Various devices and techniques exist for providing therapy in the body. A common approach to administering treatment or performing diagnostics at a tissue site in the body involves delivering an instrument to the site at a distal end of an elongate catheter or endoscope. A problem exists, however, in that many instruments and devices do not fit within the catheter or endoscope. Currently, some devices may be limited in use because the treatment surface of the device is too large for delivery to the site through a catheter or endoscope.
The delivery of many existing devices to a treatment site through the use of a catheter or endoscope can also be hindered by the location of the treatment site within the body. In some cases, for example, the device needs to be able to navigate a tortuous path or small diameter body lumens to reach a treatment site. Some known devices lack the ability to bend along tortuous delivery paths
Another problem may exist with treating a target site significantly larger than the delivery pathway through which the device must pass. In order to treat a large target site, a device with a large treatment surface is often desired. However, if the treatment surface is too large, it may not be possible to deliver the device through narrow lumens. If the treatment surface is reduced to fit within the catheter or endoscope, it may provide too small a surface area for efficient and efficacious delivery of treatment to the relatively large target site.
There may thus be a need for systems, devices and methods that may overcome the above and/or other disadvantages of known systems and methods.